v4 Copilot Power Adapter
What is a copilot power adapter? When is it needed?
A version 4 copilot, when used with a version 3 attendant, can be sensitive to low voltage supply. Low voltage may be caused by issues with the bus electrical system such as a loose fuse, corrosion on contacts, batteries nearing end of life, or an underperforming alternator. Low voltage events may cause a v4 copilot to reboot at unexpected times, including during the route.
The ideal solution in such cases is to upgrade to version 4 attendants, which aside from their other benefits also supply additional power to copilots.
However there is a simpler solution, which is to use a copilot power adapter, also known as a pigtail. A copilot power adapter is an easy-to-install way to provide additional power for your v3 copilot plugged in to a v4 attendant. Contact Transportant support at support@transportant.com if you suspect that one of your copilots is suffering from low voltage. They will be happy to perform a diagnosis to confirm if low voltage is a problem and if a copilot power adapter is called for.
How to obtain a copilot power adapter?
You can purchase modestly priced copilot power adapters from Transportant, or you can make your own with widely available parts and tools. To not waste your time or money, we suggest that you first obtain confirmation from Transportant staff that a power adapter is called for.
Purchase from Transportant
If Transportant staff diagnoses a need for copilot power adapters, they will offer them to you. Otherwise, simply request copilot power adapters from support@transportant.com.
Make your own
You will need:
- One keystone jack (example)
- One Ethernet cable, any length, with plugs (aka terminators) on both ends
- One punch down tool (example)
To make the copilot power adapter:
1. Cut the cable in the middle. Strop off an inch and a half of external sheathing on each end.
2. Connect only one of these wires to the keystone jack. Make sure all these wires belong to the same cable:
- orange
- orange-white
- green
- green-white
3. Identify if the patch cable is 568B or 568A by comparing it to a wire diagram.
4. Double up these wires on the connector:
- blue
- blue-white
- brown
- brown-white
5. You'll be left with unconnected blue and brown pairs on one of the cables. Trim out the remaining.
6. Use a multimeter to test all the connections.
7. Test it by powering up a copilot in an attendant.
The blue and brown and blue-white and brown-white are the power wires and are the ones that we feed from both Ethernet ports. Orange and green (and orange-white and green-white) are data cables. Doubling them will damage the copilot or attendant.
How to install a copilot power adapter?
Now that you have a copilot power adapter, here is how to install it.
1. On the attendant, locate the Ethernet connection panel. It has twelve ports as represented below:
Cam 10 | Cam 8 | Cam 6 | Cam 5 | Cam 4 | Aux device |
Male plug without silver stripe goes here | Male plug with silver stripe goes here | ||||
Cam 9 | Cam 7 | Cam 3 | Cam 2 | Cam 1 | Copilot |
2. Locate the copilot port on the attendant, found on the lower right of the connection panel. The copilot's cable should be plugged in here. Disconnect the copilot's cable and reconnect it to the female side of the power adapter.
3. On the male side of the power adapter, there are two plugs, one of which has a silver stripe. Plug this into the now vacant copilot port on the attendant.
4. Locate the Cam 1 port, immediately to the left of the copilot port. If there is a cable plugged into it, unplug it and move it to any open camera port.
5. Insert the power adapter's other male plug (with no silver stripe) into the vacant camera 1 port.
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